Chinese Maritime & Air Incursions into Japanese Territory

Maritime

Chinese fishing boat rams JCG vessels

09/07/2010

Incident: The captain of a Chinese fishing boat intentionally rams his vessel into 2 Japanese coast guard patrol boats near the Senkaku islands. The Japanese coast guard officers arrest the captain and his crew.
Aftermath: Anti-Japanese protests ensue in China; China also arrests Japanese expats and halts the export of rare earth materials to Japan.

Pro-China activists sail to Senkakus from Hong Kong, are arrested

08/15/2012

Incident: Japan arrests 14 pro-China activists who sailed to the island from Hong Kong. They are all deported shortly thereafter.

Chinese ships enter Japanese waters surrounding Senkakus a total of 17+ times

09/11/2012 - 12/17/2012

9/11/2012-12/17/2012
Incidents: Chinese ships enter Japanese waters around the islands a more than 17 times to regularize China’s maritime presence in an attempt to assert sovereignty there.

4 CMS ships enter Japanese waters around Senkakus, leave later that day

10/02/2012

PLA ships go through Japanese waters on their way from naval exercises

10/16/2012

PLA ships go through Japanese waters on their way to naval exercises

11/28/2012

4 CMS ships repeatedly enter Japan’s contiguous zone in the Senkakus

12/10/2012 - 12/17/2012

PLA ships go through Japanese waters on their way from naval exercises

12/10/2012

Largest ship of China FLEC enters Japan’s territorial waters in the Senkakus

Chinese ships try to monitor/expel Japanese ships from Senkakus' waters

5/17/2013

Events: Chinese ships attempt to monitor and expel Japanese ships from waters surrounding the Senkakus
Aftermath: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan repeatedly protests to Chinese envoy to Japan, to no avail

Chinese ships try to monitor/expel Japanese ships from Senkakus' waters

5/23/2013

Events: Chinese ships attempt to monitor and expel Japanese ships from waters surrounding the Senkakus
Aftermath: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan repeatedly protests to Chinese envoy to Japan, to no avail

Chinese ships try to monitor/expel Japanese ships from Senkakus' waters

5/26/2013

Events: Chinese ships attempt to monitor and expel Japanese ships from waters surrounding the Senkakus
Aftermath: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan repeatedly protests to Chinese envoy to Japan, to no avail

Chinese ships try to monitor/expel Japanese ships from Senkakus' waters

6/14/2013

Events: Chinese ships attempt to monitor and expel Japanese ships from waters surrounding the Senkakus
Aftermath: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan repeatedly protests to Chinese envoy to Japan, to no avail

Chinese ships try to monitor/expel Japanese ships from Senkakus' waters

6/22/2013

Events: Chinese ships attempt to monitor and expel Japanese ships from waters surrounding the Senkakus
Aftermath: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan repeatedly protests to Chinese envoy to Japan, to no avail

Air

Chinese gov't airplane enters Japanese airspace over the Senkakus

12/13/2012

Event: A China State Oceanic Administration airplane enters Japanese airspace over the Senkakus - first incursion by a Chinese government aircraft into Japanese airspace over the Senkakus since monitoring began in 1958
Aftermath: Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force attempts to respond; Japanese Foreign Ministry issues a Position Paper titled “Surrounding the Situation of the Senkaku Islands”

China sends fighter jets over disputed waters after Japanese air surveillance

China announces new air-defense identification zone

11/23/2013

Event: China announces new air-defense identification zone (including the islands), which would require that all aircraft in the zone comply with Chinese decrees
Aftermath: U.S. condemns ADIZ as potentially confusing, South Korea demands China redraw the zone

China sends fighter jets over recently-declared airspace

11/28/2013

Political/Diplomatic

Japan purchases 3 of the 5 islands

9/11/2012

Event: Japan purchases 3 of the 5 islands (Uotsuri, Kitakojima, and Minamikoji) from their private owner, Kurihara.
Aftermath: China Marine Surveillance agency (CMS) sends 2 more ships to vicinity of islands (see aftermath of Maritime incident #); protests erupt in over 100 Chinese cities, and Japanese vendors’ stores and factories are burned and looted, and boycotts of Japanese goods result in a 14% drop in Chinese imports from Japan in September. The Chinese also canceled ceremonies for the 40th anniversary of normalization of Sino-Japanese relations.